TRUCKING INDUSTRY * WORLDWIDE

* California/USA - Legislation would allow unions to organize harbor truck drivers

Washington,DC,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by Bill Mongelluzzo -Feb 23, 2011: -- Advocates of the unionization of harbor truck drivers opened a new line of attack with a bill in the California Legislature that would define drayage truck drivers as employees of the companies that arrange for their services... John Perez, speaker of the California Assembly, and Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, chairman of the Labor and Employment Committee, introduced the bill, which must now proceed through the normal legislative process... Labor advocates, led by the Teamsters Union, have lobbied at the local, state and federal levels for changes in laws that restrict the ability of unions to organize independent contractors... Most drayage companies at U.S. ports contract with owner-operators to haul containers. Federal anti-trust law prohibits unions from organizing independent contractors such as owner operators... Labor advocates contend that harbor trucking companies exert sufficient control over the daily work routine of owner operators to constitute an employer-employee relationship, and therefore the drivers can be organized by unions...(Photo from .portofoakland: Drayage truckers at Port of Oakland)

* Indiana/USA - Managers Plan Buyout of Trucking's US 1. President and CFO to acquire truckload carrier group

Valparaiso,IND,USA -The Journal of Commerce Online, by William B. Cassidy -Feb 22, 2011: -- The top management of U.S. 1 Industries plans to acquire the trucking operator, spending about $10 million to buy out other shareholders... President and CEO, Michael Kibler, and CFO, Harold Antonson, formed Trucking Investment to acquire U.S. 1 Industries... Kibler and Antonson currently own 53 percent of the company's stock. They will pay $1.43 a share for the remainder... The company's board of directors backs the deal, which must be approved by U.S. 1 Industries shareholders... U.S. 1 Industries is a holding group that operates a nationwide network of small truckload carriers, including independent operators... The company reported $1.4 million in net income on $156.5 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2010, the latest period for which financial data is available... Increased load activity boosted revenue 18 percent in that period, the company said...

* Maine / Vermont / USA - Heavy trucks return to small roads in Maine

Freeport,MAINE/VT,USA -The Associated Press, by CLARKE CANFIELD -Feb 22, 2011: -- After a one-year hiatus, heavy trucks are again rumbling through small towns across Maine and Vermont...  A pilot project that allowed trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds onto interstate highways in the two states ended in December, forcing trucks filled with petroleum, gravel, paper products and other heavy loads back onto state roads that pass through residential areas and business districts...  In this tourist shopping town 15 miles north of Portland, an estimated 100 or more of the trucks roll down Main Street each day, passing by the L.L. Bean flagship store, outlets, restaurants and retail spots while shoppers and tourists amble over crosswalks and cars pull in and out of side streets...  The trucks virtually disappeared from downtown during the pilot, but the interstate weight limit was lowered back to 80,000 pounds two months ago...  In Freeport, town engineer Albert Presgraves said truck traffic on Main Street is particularly evident in the summer when pedestrian and vehicular traffic picks up, forcing trucks to stop and go and backing up traffic. He doesn't have accident statistics, but said having huge trucks pass through town seems inherently dangerous...   But opponents maintain that efforts to raise the limits in Maine and Vermont are part of the trucking industry's strategy to lobby for bigger and heavier trucks in all states...(Photo from si.wsj)

* Arizona/USA - Bill would impose indemnity protection

Phoenix,AZ,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Keith Goble -11 Feb 2011: -- An effort to help level the playing field for truck drivers is moving forward at the Arizona statehouse. OOIDA issued a Call to Action to Arizona members on the issue, a bill that would do away with indemnification clauses in motor carrier transportation contracts. The clauses are set up to protect shippers or hold them harmless from anything that happens with a shipment... Specifically, the bill would void indemnity provisions in all future contracts for the transportation, loading, unloading or incidental services of property by motor carriers...

* California/USA - CARB approves Roush propane powered E-450

South Gate, CAL,USA -Fleet Owner -Feb 23, 2011 : -- The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has given its seal of approval for propane-powered Ford E-450 cutaway vans upfitted by Roush CleanTech...  Those cutaway chassis are now certified for sale in all 50 states, having received both Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and CARB certification, with the conversions partly funded by the Propane Education & Research Council, the company noted...  Marquez & Marquex Foods, a manufacturer and deliverer of corn chips and snacks, will take delivery of the first Roush propane powered E-450s, with AvcoGas Propane Sales and Service, a Roush-certified propane autogas conversion center, delivering those vehicles...  (Image from roushcleantech.com)

* New York/USA - DOT truck inspector arrested for taking bribes

Buffalo,NY,USA -Land Line, by Charlie Morasch -27 Jan 2011: -- Federal prosecutors say a DOT inspector accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Canadian commercial trucking companies in order to help them avoid and delay truck inspections... According to court documents, in early January the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked with a witness that provided detailed information about the inspector’s activities out of an FMCSA office in Buffalo, NY... The witness, who worked as a safety consultant for commercial trucking companies in Canada, told agents they paid the agent $60,000 to $70,000 during the last two years with cash and Western Union wire payments. The payments were made on behalf of Canadian motor carriers... The money was exchanged for information that included quarterly listings of Canadian trucking companies being targeted for FMCSA inspections; assistance from the DOT inspector in helping the witness obtain work from those companies; “audit sample” information that showed what information FMCSA would review during inspections; the inspector’s help in rescheduling FMCSA inspections and the inspector’s initiation of “complaint audits” to put a company out of business; and “friendly audits” to help a company to obtain a satisfactory rating from FMCSA... James H. Wood, 44, of Delevan, NY, has been charged with accepting bribes “in violation of his official duty”... Buffalonews.com reported that Wood said he expects to be fired from his $80,000 a year job...

* Canada - Dynamex shareholders approve TransForce takeover

Montreal,QUE,CAN -Truck News -23 Feb 2011: -- TransForce has announced it has now completed its acquisition of same-day delivery and logistics provider Dynamex...  The deal, for US$248 million, was approved by shareholders Feb. 18. Dynamex brings 1,500 workers and 3,700 independent contractors as well as a network of more than 60 business centres across the US and Canada into the TransForce fold...

* Australia - Armour acquires Hillman's Transfer

Sydney,NSW,Australia -Truck News -23 Feb 2011: -- Armour Transportation has acquired Hillman's Transfer, a 40-truck fleet that hauls general freight and perishables out of Sydney... The fleet is comprised of 40 tractors and 70 trailers, offering temperature-controlled, refrigerated trucking for perishable goods as well as air-ride trailers for general freight. However, Armour said the company's niche is its ability to haul perishables such as fish, meat and fruit long-distance. More than 60 people are employed by the company, which will continue to operate out of its existing location in Sydney...

* Belgium - CMB Group sells Hessenatie Logistics to Groep H. Essers

Antwerp,Belgium -Truck Europe, by Claude Yvens -7 Feb 2011: -- CMB (Compagnie Maritime Belge) has signed a letter of intent for the sale of its holdings (the totality of its shares) in service provider Hessenatie Logistics, to Belgian enterprise Groep H. Essers. Hessenatie Logistics employs around 230 persons and has three logistics poles in Belgium: Boom (49,000 m2), Kampenhout (20,000 m2) and Kortrijk (46,000 m2)... The transfer will be subject to prior due diligence but should, according to the two parties, be concluded before the end of the first quarter of 2011. Hessenatie Logistics had joined the CMB group in 1988...